My wife and I don’t get to eat out as often as she would like (!) but there’s one restaurant that uses a particular logo next to certain entrees to indicate that they are specialties of the house.

Most bookstores have a house specialty as well. In my store, I have a weakness for any apologetics title that I think can find practical use for my customers. So my apologetics section is somewhat overstocked, but I like it that way.

Here’s a fall 2010 title from New Leaf Press that conveys its clear intent in this book trailer that runs only 38 seconds:

And we would be remiss in not congratulating Phil on the ten year anniversary of maintaining the UK Christian Book Shop Directory. With his trade blog dating back to July 2003, I don’t know anyone who is more knowledgable and insightful as to both the history and the current state of the breadth of Christian product retail across the pond.

= # = # =

*Of course, I didn’t know Phil’s blog existed when we started this, so early on he asked me why we chose “book shop” instead of the term more common here, “book store” and I explained that “shop talk” is used here as a term for “trade talk.” Had I known, I would have chosen something less similar!

Email marketing is a great way to reach your customer base, as long as you don’t overdo it. As someone who has been doing this for a longer period of time than most of you, I recommend:

Once a month for a major marketing push, special sales, new releases, etc.

On a two week offset you can do really short notes for breaking information, but for that I really recommend starting a store Facebook page.

On rare occasions, you can use your e-mail list to alert the Christian community to a special need in your area, where there is a need for help or for prayer.

But how do you insure that your emails aren’t classified as junk?

Here’s some tips from myself and other experts I’ve read:

Somewhere — at the top or bottom — include the day’s date that you are sending it out.

Always remember to include an “unsubscribe” option at the bottom, even if it’s in fine print. (Ours is simply, “to unsubscribe from these mailings, hit ‘reply’ and type ‘unsubscribe’ in the subject field.”)

If you’re doing them on your store’s own email account, only send 75-80 at a time; otherwise hire a professional “list server.”

Send only to people who have signed up to receive your store’s electronic newsletter; don’t harvest addresses from other sources.

If you want your customers to be able to go to your website or a publisher’s website to learn more about a title, try to limit linking to two links per email.

Don’t shout. You can vary font sizes for topic headers, but AVOID CAPITAL LETTERS at all costs! (See what I mean?)

The above applies doubly to the email’s subject header, where you also want to avoid exclamation points (!), dollar signs ($) and phone numbers.

I’m not sure how much it helps, but try to avoid dollar signs. Was 16.99 now 8.99; not was $16.99 now $8.99. If you’ve got a lot of titles to promote, do it as a table with “was” and “now” headers.

Try to avoid the excessive use of these words: Sale, reduced, bargain, special offer, limited time, clearance, 50% off, half price, etc.

Finally, while it won’t help your spam-count; if you live in a big city where everyone has high-speed cable or DSL connectivity, then include pictures and graphics; but if your email customer list is people in the country on dial-up, you might want to stick with straight text.

It’s hard to market without using words like “sale,” or using $$ signs, so as much as possible, try to get your customers into the regular habit of checking out your store’s website, blog or Facebook page.

Also, don’t forget to check your return-to-senders after each mailout, in order to keep your list up-to-date.

UPDATE: Luke has left some additional helpful information in the comments section that you won’t want to miss.

Hillsong’s youth-oriented group, Hillsong United, has become the first Christian group to sell out The Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The event also raised $33,000 (U.S.) for earthquake relief in New Zealand.

For those of you who are followers of our own personal drama, on Tuesday of this week at exactly noon, our landlord came in the store and announced he was exempting us from the lease clause requiring us to repair and replace the Heating, Ventilation and Air Condition (HVAC) system if necessary; what two electrical contractors told us would almost certainly involve a minimum $5,000 outlay.

We can only attribute this to prayer, but only afterward did we learn of the people, not all of whom are customers, who were praying for us; not to mention one entire church congregation last Sunday.

While we still face challenges, as does every store staff person reading this, at least we know we don’t have to be out in six weeks. We can continue to find ways to run lean, continue to try and find ways to attract people to our stores, and continue to pray for a heightened interest in the products we sell.

Eleven years ago I interviewed a prospective employee who asked me, “What do you think of the idea that there is a revival waiting to break out in Canada?” I told her that I wasn’t sure about that particular issue, but that, if there was revival breaking out, she would be the first to know, because it would produce a hunger and thirst for greater knowledge of God.

That’s what we need to pray for. If people will seek more of God, our stores will improve as a direct result. It can’t not play out that way. I am convinced of that.

Pray for people to be hungry and thirsty for a greater knowledge of God.

I’m trying to find the least controversial way to get Rob Bell’s new book out the door.

I’m reminded of a time more than 30 years ago when Jesus Music (later called Contemporary Christian Music) was so radical that a bookstore in Sault Ste. Marie would herd customers into a stockroom, place their Larry Norman or Randy Matthews or Love Song album into a plain brown paper bag and then return them to the front of the store to ring the albums through the cash register; with the product thereby not being seen by other customers.

I just need a source for some plain brown paper bags that will fit a book.

NOTE: This trade blog is for Christian bookstore owners, Christian publishers and record labels, and nationally distributed Christian authors and musicians.

Now in its 9th year, this blog raises issues that affect all Christian booksellers, authors, publishers and record companies; with an extra focus reflecting a Canadian perspective on the industry. If that's not you, keep reading anyway, articles here have broader impact for people who love Christian books. Retailers: let your staff know about this resource and encourage them to check regularly or submit stories.

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